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Video: Father released in kid-snatching custody case

Transcript of: Father released in kid-snatching custody case

ANN CURRY, anchor:Now to the overnight release of an American father who had been held for more than two weeks in a Japanese jail.
Christopher Savoie
was arrested there last month, accused of snatching his two children from his Japanese ex-wife after she failed to return home from a trip to her
native country
of
Japan
. Well,
Savoie
's current wife,
Amy
, is now joining us.
Amy
, good morning.

Ms. AMY SAVOIE (Husband Released from Japanese Jail in Custody Dispute):Good morning.

CURRY:I know that this has been a very emotional
roller coaster
for you and certainly has got to have been for
Christopher
as well. When you heard the news that overnight he'd been released from jail, what was your reaction?

Ms. SAVOIE:Oh, I was thrilled, of course. I was very thrilled to hear that he'd been released.

CURRY:You've been able to speak to him on the phone? Has he been able to talk to you about his treatment? There were some concerns early on in how he was being treated in jail.

Ms. SAVOIE:Yes. We weren't able to speak for very long. He's still in the midst of a lot of paperwork and he was -- he's with his attorneys right now, in fact, I believe, and they have a lot of work to do still.

CURRY:Is it your sense that he's been traumatized at all by this experience, that he's emotional about it, or does it seem as though he's doing fine?

Ms. SAVOIE:It's very emotional. It's very multifaceted. He -- his children are basically dead to him now, and that is just -- it's horrible, and I don't know how a parent goes forward from that, that kind of devastation. Our lives have been completely dismantled by this tragedy, and
Isaac
and
Rebecca
are now somewhere in
Japan
with no access to their father who loves them dearly.

CURRY:Hm.

Ms. SAVOIE:No more hugs from their father, no more
phone calls
, no more playing the guitar with their father, no more playing baseball with their father. And I can't imagine that any eight-year-old and six-year-old would actually choose to live a life without one parent if they were able to make such a choice.

CURRY:Amy
, a spokesperson at the
US Consulate
in
Japan
upon hearing of
Christopher
's release said quote, "The
Japanese government
will try to find a long-term solution to the
joint custody
and parenting issues." Is -- are you saying that you have -- you and your husband don't have faith that there will be something worked out with the
Japanese government
and with the rules there that would allow
Christopher
to parent his children?

Ms. SAVOIE:Well, I know a number of countries have asked
Japan
for years to sign
The Hague Treaty
with regards to its stance on parental
child abduction
, in which they've stated for years that parental abduction is not considered to be a crime in
Japan
. And I think it's going to take a long time for them to overcome the thinking that they've had since the
1940s
, in which one parent has custody of the child. So it's -- this is definitely going to be a marathon, and there are so many, so many grieving families who have contacted me and they want to unify and try to see how we can maybe effect some change. And there is a meeting in
DC
about this next week.

CURRY:Hm
. Meantime, what are
Christopher
's plans now? Will he stay in
Japan
and try to see his children, wait for this to be resolved? Or will he be able to come home?

Ms. SAVOIE:Well, my understanding is one of the conditions of his release was that he did return to the
United States
.

CURRY:Hm.

Ms. SAVOIE:So he will be -- he will be
coming home
and he needs to return to work. He needs to return to
law school
. We're both law students. We need to continue this fight, you know, from here, and just try to effect some positive change, if we can. We'll work as hard as we can.

CURRY:Well, I can hear,
Amy
, the heartbreak in your voice and certainly, it's probably been really mirrored by what
Christopher
must be feeling now. And -- but I think we can also hear you're very determined.

Ms. SAVOIE:Yes. Well,
Isaac
and
Rebecca
love their father, and there are many children out there who don't know, they aren't able to feel the love of the parent who's
left behind
and it's a tragedy. And we always had empathy for those families because we always worried that this was going to happen to us, and now that empathy's been fully realized.

Though freed from a Japanese jail after attempting to abduct his own children from his ex-wife, an American businessman remains emotionally devastated by the knowledge that he may never see his 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter again.

“He’s been traumatized. It’s very difficult to talk about. It’s very emotional,” Christopher Savoie’s wife, Amy Savoie, told TODAY’s Ann Curry Thursday in an interview from Nashville, Tenn. “His children are basically dead to him now. It’s horrible, and I don’t know how a parent goes forward from that kind of devastation. Our lives have been completely dismantled by this tragedy.”

Christopher Savoie was released Thursday after 18 days in custody. He was jailed after he abducted his children, Isaac and Rebecca, in southern Japan as his ex-wife was walking them to school.

Divorce, then disappearanceSavoie had married Japanese native Noriko Savoie and lived with her in Japan from 2001 to 2008 while he ran a company he founded. According to ABC News, he had become a Japanese citizen while in that country.

But the marriage soured, and after the couple moved to Franklin, Tenn., they divorced in January of this year. In April, Noriko took the children with her, with a court’s permission, on vacation to Japan. She returned with them, but two weeks later disappeared with the children.

Although Christopher Savoie had custody rights in the United States, in Japan, he had none. Unlike most developed countries, Japan has never signed a Hague Treaty guaranteeing custody rights to parents in international divorces. In Japan, the law allows one parent — usually the mother — to have exclusive custody in such cases.

“Isaac and Rebecca are now somewhere in Japan with no access to their father, who loved them dearly,” Amy Savoie told Curry. “No more hugs from their father, no more phone calls or playing the guitar with their father. No more playing baseball with their father. I can’t imagine that any 8-year-old or 6-year-old would actually choose to live a life without a parent if they were able to make such a choice.”

‘Hello, I’m out’When Savoie was released without bail, Japanese authorities said he was not considered a flight risk. But his wife said her understanding is that the Japanese want him to return to the United States — without his children.

“My understanding is one of the conditions of his release is that he did return to the United States,” Amy Savoie said. “He will be coming home and he needs to return to work. He needs to return to law school; we’re both law students. He needs to continue this fight from here and just try to effect some positive change if we can. We’ll work as hard as we can.”

The Japanese government has stated that it will attempt to find a resolution to Savoie’s case as well as many other similar cases. But Amy Savoie, who is working with other affected families, did not hold out hope that there would be any change soon in Japanese law.

“I think it’s going to take a long time for them to overcome the thinking that they’ve had since the 1940s, in which one parent has custody of the child,” she said. “This is definitely going to be a marathon, and there are so many grieving families that have contacted me.”

TODAY

Christopher Savoie’s wife, Amy Savoie, said that they will “work as hard as we can” to bring his children home to the U.S.

Amy, was awakened by a telephone call at her Franklin, Tenn., home early Thursday and answered to hear her husband’s voice.

Not sure if he’s heading home
She said the couple had only a few minutes to talk, and it isn’t yet clear when her husband could be coming home.

“We’ve been able to speak, but there’s so much to talk about,” she said. “This is all about him coming home.”

The Fukuoka District Prosecutors Office refused to comment on the Savoie case. But a suspect with a pending indictment is released on the condition he or she accepts further questioning. No bail is involved in a pre-indictment release.

Savoie’s Japanese lawyer, Tadashi Yoshino, was not immediately available for comment.

TODAY

Christopher Savoie’s children, Rebecca (now 6) and Isaac (now 8), were taken to Japan by his ex-wife.

U.S. Consulate spokeswoman Tracy Taylor declined to comment on details of his release, but added that her understanding was that he would not be indicted.

“We are pleased to hear that he was released, and we are hopeful that we can work with the Japanese government to come to a long-term solution on this problem,” Taylor said. “ ‘This problem’ meaning the issue of international child abduction.”

Japan’s custody policy has begun to raise concern abroad, following a recent spate of incidents involving Japanese mothers bringing their children back to their native land and refusing to let their foreign ex-husbands visit them.

Amy Savoie repeated how hard the situation has been on her husband. “It’s very devastating,” she told Curry. “Isaac and Rebecca love their father. It’s a tragedy.”